Apple's Eddy Cue says El Jobs was up for it

Now the tedious suing and counter-suing is over and it has finally entered the courtroom, there's some pretty meaty stories emerging from this Samsung vs Apple trial.

Late on Friday, we learned that he late Steve Jobs was actually pretty keen on his company launching a 7-inch version of the iPad despite his public protestations.

The revelation comes from Apple stalwart Eddy Cue in an email presented to the court, which features a Gigaom.com article favourably comparing the Samsung Galaxy Tab to the iPad.

The email, sent to the Apple executive team of Phil Schiller, Tim Cook and Scott Forstall, reads: "Having used a Samsung Galaxy, I tend to agree with many of the comments below (except actually moving off the iPad). I believe there will be a 7" market and we should do one. I expressed this to Steve several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very receptive the last time. I found email, books, facebook and video very compelling on a 7". Web browsing is definitely the weakest point, but still usable."

Very receptive

So Steve was "very receptive" to a 7-inch tablet, despite claiming they'd be dead-on-arrival in a 2010 earnings call.

Recent rumours have suggested that Apple will launch an iPad mini around 7.85-inches in size before the end of the year. Now we know Steve approved, it seems more likely.